Picture yourself in this scenario: It’s the middle of the year and you have a backlog of projects stretching back to October. You have just been awarded two large scale commercial projects and some additional residential contracts that needed to be started yesterday. Then the worst case scenario happens, your lead superintendent hands in his two-week notice and one of your labourers gets injured over the weekend.
Then suddenly you are not as focused on profit margins or the quality of your work, you’re in panic mode. You rush to get your job ads on the job boards and proceed to sift through a mountain of underwhelming resumes, which in the end may result in you hiring someone who perhaps isn’t quite right just so you can get bodies on the roof.
The cycle of “panic hiring” is without a doubt one of the biggest problems the roofing industry faces. Most business owners will look at recruiting like a faucet, turning it on only when they need it and shutting it off at the moment when they feel the cup is full. But in reality, with skilled labour shortages and high turnover, that on-off strategy creates a slow leak that eventually sinks your business.
In order to build a roofing company that is resilient and scalable, you need to shift your mindset. You can’t leave recruiting until the point where you are desperate, you need to recruit all year round, regardless of whether you have immediate openings.
Always Be Hiring
The main philosophy behind successful roofing companies is straightforward: Recruitment is marketing. Just like you wouldn’t stop marketing your services when your schedule is busy, you shouldn’t stop marketing your company to possible employees just because your teams are currently staffed.
When we say ‘Always Be Hiring’ it doesn’t mean you need to constantly add to your payroll. It just means you are constantly building a solid bench. This involves maintaining a strong pipeline of pre-vetted and qualified candidates who would be interested in joining your team, even if you don’t have a spot for them at this very moment. It changes the mindset from just hiring reactively to fill a gap, to proactively hiring to upgrade or expand.
The Talent Gap and Seasonality
Here are 3 reasons why this is critical for the roofing industry:
1. The Skilled labour Shortage is Real
The whole construction industry is facing a chronic problem when it comes to a shortage of skilled workers. It’s rare to find good roofers who show up on time, they know the safety protocols and they produce high-quality work. These people are likely already employed elsewhere. So if you only recruit when desperate, you find yourself fishing in a very small pond of unemployed workers. However, when you are recruiting year-round, you are building relationships with the best talent who might be waiting for the right opportunity to leave their current employer.
2. Seasonality Kills Momentum
Given that roofing is seasonal by nature, if you wait until the spring rush to start looking for people, you will be in competition with every other roofing company in your area for the same pool of workers. If you consider recruiting in the “off-season”, you’ll have the attention of candidates who are either laid off or frustrated with their current company’s lack of winter work.
3. Vetting Takes Time
If you’re desperate when it comes to hiring then you run the risk of compromising your standards. When you find yourself in a situation where you need a roofer tomorrow, you might overlook red flags during the background check or bypass a practical skills test. By recruiting continuously you give yourself time because you can make sure you are vetting your candidates properly, checking references and making sure they are a true cultural fit without having the pressure of a looming deadline.
Quality, Culture, and Growth
If you make sure you adopt a year-round recruitment strategy, then it has a tangible impact on the day to day operations of your business.
Higher Quality Workmanship – You often settle for “good enough” when you make a hire out of desperation and more often than not this leads to callbacks, warranty issues and damage to your reputation. If you have a solid bench of talent, you can hold out for the “A-Players.” These are the people who make fewer mistakes, work at a fast pace and treat their customers better.
Over the course of time, this will have a direct impact on your profit margins and help reduce rework.
Stronger Company Culture – A bad hire can have a serious negative impact on the morale of your teams. One toxic employee can drag down an entire crew and furthermore, if your current team has an inkling that you’re desperate, they all hold the leverage. They know that realistically you cannot fire them because there is no one to replace them in the team. When you have a steady pipeline of candidates, your current team is fully aware that they need to perform to keep their spot. It helps create a culture of accountability rather than one of complacency.
Scalability – You are unable to grow your business if your capacity is capped by your headcount, if a general contractor awards you a large-scale project for the re-roof of 50 homes, you’ll have to turn it down if you don’t have the manpower for the work. But, by recruiting continuously throughout the year, you’re in a position to take on that additional work with confidence, knowing you have the people ready to bring on board if needed.
Changing Your Process
What does this really look like? It implies a change in how you allocate your time and budget.
- Permanent Job Posts: It would be beneficial to keep a “General Labour” or “Experienced Roofer” ad running on your website and on the job boards throughout the course of the year which clearly states “We are always looking for top talent.”
- The “Waitlist” Interview: Interview candidates even when you don’t have openings. Be transparent by letting them know that you don’t have a spot today, but you are impressed with them and you’d like to keep them on your database for the next opening. You will be surprised by how many people are willing to wait for a good company.
- Referral Bonuses: Have an internal referral program that is active all year. Your best employees will know other good roofers, so this will incentivize them to bring those people to you.
- Brand Building: Use social media to showcase your team in action – completed projects, safety training sessions, crew certifications, and team BBQs. Show potential hires the quality of work they’d be part of and the safety culture they’d be joining.
Summary
In the roofing industry, your people are your biggest asset, so treating recruitment as a seasonal chore will set you up for failure.
If you make sure you are recruiting year round, you put yourself in a commanding position and you are less likely to be held hostage by labour shortages and you will be able to build a ‘dream team’ that allows you to take on more and better projects, command premium rates and sleep better at night.
You would not recommend a client to wait until the roof is leaking to get it fixed, so don’t wait until you’re desperate to hire. Start building your bench today and make recruitment a permanent pillar of your business strategy.